I’m betting that one thing we all could use is a Get Out Of Jail card to help us learn how to love our bodies – just as they are. I’m also wagering you may be asking yourself, as I did: why is this woman on the right smiling? What’s wrong with her?
What’s wrong is nothing. Absolutely nothing. What’s wrong is my perception of what’s OK, and what’s not. Through fat years and lean years — and who hasn’t lived through those? — most of us are never OK… to ourselves. In May, 2013, Austrailian photographer and mother of three, Taryn Brumfitt posted this Before and After duo on Facebook after the birth of a child. After years of hating her body as “fat, ugly, disgusting'” she had decided to enter a body building contest and shape up. And indeed, she did. Then along came another baby.
After reviling her ‘imperfections’ and considering a boob job and a tummy tuck, she had ‘an epiphany’ wondering, “How am I how am I ever going to teach Mikaela (her daughter) to love her body as it is if her Mummy can’t do the same?”
After the photo went viral, Taryn decided to take action, dedicating herself to writing and speaking about body love through her project Body Image Movement. Now she’s raising money through a kickstarter campaign to create a documentary called “EMBRACE.” The film sets out to explore why body-loathing is so ubiquitous, and pernicious, and ways to combat that self-defeating trope.
One of the things that struck me was that it took time for Taryn to learn to love her body.
I had to build that muscle, it just didn’t happen overnight…but I can tell you that there is nothing better than a) loving your body wholeheartedly, lumps and bumps and all, and b) telling society where they can shove their ideas of beauty… Women are always being told to change or be different — lose weight, fight aging, smooth your skin, get rid of cellulite, I mean really, women are such amazing and dynamic creatures can we please change the conversation from this bullsh*t to something with a little more substance?
Of those 100 women Taryn stopped on the street and asked to choose an adjective to describe her body, only ONE answered positively.
She said, “Soft,” and “Luscious.” With a wide smile.
Two words definitely worth a Post-it on my bathroom mirror.
Quotes, image and video via Huffington Post
You had a good body, now you dont! congratulations! 😉